Chicago Blackhawks And Sam Gagner Would Fit For Right Price

The Chicago Blackhawks have been linked to Columbus Blue Jackets forward Sam Gagner in a potential agreement that would work out great for the Blackhawks

Columbus Blue Jackets forward Sam Gagner is due to become an unrestricted free agent Saturday, and various teams are interested in acquiring his services. Among those are the Chicago Blackhawks, according to The Athletic’s Scott Powers.

Gagner is a 27-year-old forward who has played for four NHL teams, most recently the Blue Jackets. Before then, he spent seven seasons in Edmonton followed by single years in Arizona and Philadelphia.

But Gagner has his ties to the Blackhawks. And the Ontario native would make a great fit for the Blackhawks, if they could make it happen in accordance with the salary cap. Here are some reasons why.

Gagner fills a void

The Blackhawks currently have a roster in flux heading into the 2017-18 season. Among the current issues are the need for a second-line right wing alongside Patrick Kane and Artem Anisimov after Artemi Panarin was traded to Columbus in the Brandon Saad deal. Another need is for a bottom-six forward. Gagner could play in either of these spots in Chicago.

Gagner has proven he can be an effective scoring forward in the NHL. He’s coming off a career-best season with 18 points and 32 assists, cracking 50 points for the first time. And considering he’s just 27, that means he should be entering the prime years of his playing career.

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Additionally, 18 of Gagner’s points last season came with the man advantage. The Blackhawks’ powerplay became very stale at times in 2016-17. Having a mobile forward like Gagner on the powerplay as a guy who’s also comfortable with both passing and shooting the puck would be a great improvement over the standing-still strategy the Blackhawks fell in love with last season.

Gagner is also gaining postseason experience of late. Prior to the 2015-16 campaign, he had never been part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He now has 11 games under his belt the last two postseasons, and while he contributed just four points, it would at least go toward making sure Gagner isn’t gunshy come playoff time in Chicago.

On top of all this, Gagner has solid possession numbers of late. After not cracking 50 percent in Corsi-for during his first seven NHL seasons (all with the Oilers), Gagner has posted percentages of 52.5 in Arizona, 51.3 in Philadelphia and 54.8 in Columbus. The Coyotes number was achieved with heavily tilted offensive-zone starts, but the other two stops saw him with pretty close to even zone starts.

Gagner has a connection with Kane

Like I mentioned before, the Blackhawks and Gagner do have their connections. The biggest one comes in the form of Gagner previously being a teammate of Kane in the Ontario Hockey League.

In fact, the two were linemates back in the day. Each spent one season (2006-07) with the OHL’s London Knights, and they racked up some serious points in that short time. Kane tallied a whopping 145 regular-season points across 58 games to go with 31 more in 16 playoff games. Gagner added 118 regular-season points in 53 contests and 29 in those 16 postseason tilts.

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So those two had some pretty obvious chemistry in the junior leagues before being drafted very closely together in 2007. Kane was the No. 1 overall pick by the Blackhawks that year, while Gagner went at No. 6 to the Edmonton Oilers.

Their paths haven’t crossed in a teammate capacity since — Gagner has never been voted to an NHL All-Star Game. But most Blackhawks fans remember Gagner as the guy who put up eight points in the men in the Indian Head during a 2012 thrashing of the Blackhawks by the Oilers.

So why wouldn’t you want to rekindle that connection if at all possible? Sure, NHL competition is obviously a major step up from OHL competition, but the guys have had roughly 10 years to improve on their games since posting their wild point totals in the OHL. There’s a great chance these two could just soar right off the bat, like Kane and Panarin did two years ago.

Even if Gagner isn’t destined to play on the top line with Kane, he obviously has the talent to produce for the Blackhawks in some other capacity. Would you say no to a guy who tallied 50 points last season wanting to play for your team?

Talking about the salary cap

Of course, this is the one stumbling point. It always is for the Blackhawks in this current era. While Gagner has interest in joining the Blackhawks as well, the numbers need to make sense.

Gagner most recently came at a cap hit of $4.8 million, and that was before posting a career-best season. The Blackhawks are going to be in quite a spot trying to convince Gagner to come over while needing to give him that kind of money, if not more.

The Blackhawks would first need to make sure Marian Hossa can go on long-term injured reserve, which the NHL is inexplicably dragging its feet about.

Then, the rumored Marcus Kruger trade would also need to go through. He’s due a $2 million signing bonus in a few days, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Kruger moved after that.

With the contracts of those two off the books for 2017-18, and with defenseman Jan Rutta on the roster (believed to be a likely happening before the season begins), the Blackhawks would have just over $5 million cap space. And that’s with a roster of 12 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders.

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That’s a suspect situation. So could the Blakhawks somehow convince Gagner to take a small discount for a chance at winning now, which the Blackhawks seem to still be focused on doing? That remains to be seen. But it’s clear having Gagner on the 2017-18 roster would give the Blackhawks a huge lift.